


The New Institution of Rachel Green

by captainamergirl



Category: Friends (TV)
Genre: Gen, GeorgeClooneyGivesAdvice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 19:17:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11743449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: Rachel got on the plane... now what?





	The New Institution of Rachel Green

**Author's Note:**

> The character Rachel meets on the plane is played by George Clooney. Remember he and Noah Wyle were in a Friends episode once called "The One With Two Parts, Part 2". What happens if Rachel runs into him again? A one shot.

With a long, nervous sigh, Rachel Green shook out her fist like a pitcher before a Yankees game, and bravely reached beyond her seat to pick up the in-flight telephone. She began to dial, instinctively tapping out the number one, and then the area code for New York City. But when it came time to enter the second set of numbers, she had no idea which buttons she should push. At that moment, she could think of no one to call that would want to hear what she had to say; would want to hear her excuses and her defenses for what she had done.  
  
Certainly not Ross Gellar. No, she was sure that he would not wanted to be bothered – especially after having witnessed the look of anger and hurt spread across his face following his declaration of love to her in front of god and all of JFK Airport. A phone call from her would not be a welcome thing in his apartment that night or for any other for a long, long time to come.  
  
If he even wanted to talk to her again at all.  
  
She had apologized profusely for choosing to go to Paris anyway but it had not been enough to calm the storm in his rich burgundy eyes. Things were kaput between them for good and she couldn’t blame him. She had said how sorry she was but it wasn’t enough. To make matters even worse she had thanked him for loving her the way he did. He had reacted badly to that one, seeming to think it was condescending of her.  
  
She loved Ross but knew that would never be enough to make him understand – it would never explain why she did what she did and at that moment, she couldn’t make sense of anything.  
  
Putting the phone back in its cradle, she slumped back in her seat and prepared for takeoff. Tears filmed her eyes and she stared out the window at the seemingly black, dismal night.  
  
Then she heard a voice say, “Are you okay?”  
  
At first Rachel thought about ignoring whoever had asked her that but she changed her mind. They were obviously trying to be nice. She looked across the aisle where the voice had originated from.  
  
A strikingly handsome man with prematurely graying hair and cool green eyes watched her. Rachel was suddenly overcome with the feeling that she knew him from somewhere.  
  
She wiped her eyes and then said, “Yeah, I’m fine, I guess … Why is it that you look so familiar to me?”  
  
He smiled and two matching dimples appeared in his cheeks. “I kind of hoped you wouldn’t remember me.”  
  
She blanched. “Well excuse me. You talked to me first. I was happily ignoring you just a second ago and can happily do it again just as well. The nerve …” She grabbed the issue of People magazine she had bought at the airport and flipped through it, sticking her nose deep inside it to make a pointed statement. A statement that said, “Fuck off.”  
  
But he had the nerve to laugh at her then. “Your magazine’s upside down. If you’re looking at page twenty-six, you’re looking at a picture of Oprah and she probably looks a lot like a piece of broccoli standing on her head – especially with that new ‘do she’s sporting now.” He held up his copy of the magazine. “I bought the same issue. Bought it for its article on how the stars lose weight. I’ve put on about fifteen pounds since Christmas and I figure if Star Jones can take off the pounds, so can I.”  
  
Rachel bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud and lowered her magazine a bit. “For your information, I’m on page 36. I’m reading an article about Angelina Jolie’s new collagen treatments.”  
  
He grinned. “No wonder she has no ass – all of her ass fat has been injected into her lips.”  
  
Rachel laughed out loud this time and caught a dirty look from a man two seats over. She was fortunate her new office was footing the bill for first class but it annoyed her the way the rich old people expected everything to be as silent as a tomb up here.  
  
“Look you’re smiling now,” the man said, bringing her back to the present. “I made a bet with myself that I could make you smile.”  
  
Rachel grinned in spite of herself. “What do you win?”  
  
“A new set of golf clubs.”  
  
Rachel nodded. “Well, lucky you.”  
  
They faded into a brief silence and then Rachel turned back to him. “Okay, I just have to know.”  
  
“Know what?” he asked.  
  
“Where I know you from.”  
  
“Your name is Monica, right?”  
  
Rachel shook her head, suddenly realizing where she had seen him before. After she injured her ankle taking down the Christmas lights one year, Monica had taken her to the hospital and they “switched identities” for sake of the insurance … for which, Rachel had had none. Then they met up with two hot doctors and tried to carry on the charade of being each other to disastrous results. One of those doctors was sitting across the aisle from her.  
  
“My name is actually Rachel and it’s a long story,” she said with a little bit of embarrassment.  
  
“Let me guess. You and your brunette friend switched personalities to fool the insurance company right?”  
  
Rachel looked alarmed for a moment and he quickly said, “I won’t tell anyone.”  
  
“Okay … then yes we did.”  
  
“Well it’s good to know that you’re not totally insane.”  
  
Rachel smiled a bit. “Thank you, I think?”  
  
“Welcome.”  
  
“I can actually see why you would think that though. We did carry on that night like a bunch of crazies.”  
  
He chuckled. “Well … yeah … You admitted you were enormous in high school and your friend admitted that she had sex in her parents’ bed. I take it that was reversed …”  
  
Rachel blushed. “Yeah, kind of. I mean, I was never once fat. Though I did have a big nose.”  
  
He laughed. “My name is Michael, just to refresh your memory.”  
  
Rachel smiled again in spite of herself. “Nice to get reacquainted with you then, Michael.”  
  
“Thank you… Anyway, not to pry but you looked very upset earlier. A woman only looks that upset when a man’s involved.”  
  
“Says the man …”  
  
“We have a long flight ahead of us; I’m already bored. Might as well share some stories with me.”  
  
Rachel giggled at his brazenness. She wasn’t used to telling strangers everything but felt she needed to get everything off her chest and someone she would never likely see a third time would do as a confessor.  
  
“Okay this is about a man. A really good man. He asked me to stay in New York with him and still I got on the plane and left him. He’ll never forgive me for that.”  
  
“So you broke up. He’ll get over it in time, I’m sure.”  
  
“No you don’t understand. Ross and I were –“ she paused for a moment to think of the right word – “an institution. We were not just Ross and Rachel we were ROSSANDRACHEL. Everyone said we belonged together; everyone rooted for us; people believed in our destiny as a couple even when we didn’t. We practically had our own fan base –“  
  
“Like Princess Diana and Charles?”  
  
“Something like that … It seemed we gave hope to people. ‘If Ross and Rachel can make it back together, why then we certainly can’. We were expected to be together. I was the Rachel to his Ross. I was his Rachel and he was my Ross.  
  
“My wild and crazy but totally lovable friend Phoebe called us lobsters cause you know, they mate for life. They’re soulmates. They’re eternal. Just like the institution of Green and Gellar was supposed to be. We were like Luke and Laura or something – everyone thought we’d make it in the end.  
  
When we were together, it used to be so good.” She felt tears brushing her cheeks, and feeling so foolish, she quickly wiped them away. “But when we were apart it was hard at first and then I actually found myself liking who I was without him … But why be Rachel when I can be Ross’s Rachel?” she finished.  
  
Michael looked around for something she could wipe her runny nose with and not seeing anything passed her his scarf. “Use this for the uh, dribbles.”  
  
She smiled thinly. “You don’t want me to use that.”  
  
“Sure I do. I will feel special to have the real boogers of ROSSANDRACHEL fame. I can maybe sell it on eBay now.”  
  
“You’re just making fun of me now.”  
  
“Was I that obvious?” He asked in mock amazement. Then suddenly his nice smiled disappeared and he became more serious. “Can I be honest with you?”  
  
“I guess …”  
  
“From all that I have heard, Rachel, I would have to diagnose you with wanting your own identity-itis.”  
  
She raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”  
  
“Wanting your own identity-it is,” he repeated. “You love this Ross guy but you are just as happy – if not happier – when you aren’t together. Because you’re a strong and vibrant woman from all I’ve witnessed, and you want to be yourself and do whatever you want to without having to ask permission. You want to be your own person.”  
  
“That makes me sound selfish,” she said quietly.  
  
“No, Ms. Green, I’d say it makes you human.”  
  
“Take some time in Paris to get to know the real Rachel, sans Ross – the good, the bad and the ugly –“  
  
“Hey!”  
  
“Then –“ he went on like he hadn’t heard her – “decide what you really want to do with your life. And if it’s to be with the Ross guy, then fine. It’s your decision; you made it and have to own it.  
  
“Now if you want to continue flying free as a bird, then you tell your friends and family or whoever else, ‘if you love me, you’ll support me.’”  
  
He smiled suddenly. "What do you say to all that?”  
  
“Just thank you,” Rachel said, wiping her eyes. “When I got on the plane, I felt like such a heartless bitch …”  
  
“And now?”  
  
She yawned. “I just feel tired.”  
  
He nodded. “Of course you are. We just dismantled an institution and everyone knows how time consuming that is.”  
  
“Thanks again.”  
  
“You’re welcome. Sleep well, Rachel Green.”  
  
“You too, Doc.”  
  
Rachel closed her eyes and then drifted off into a peaceful sleep.  
  
She was awoken seemingly hours later by a flight attendant telling her it was time to disembark. She immediately looked over to the seat where her new friend had been sitting and saw with disappointment that it was empty.  
  
She sighed and stood up. As she was gathering together her things a little scrap of paper slipped out of her magazine. She picked it up and read it with a smile. _“Good luck on building the new institution of Rachel Green.”_  
  
It was simply signed, _“Doc”._


End file.
